ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A scout lounged in a seat in the home plate horseshoe here before the Angels played Friday, and joined the growing chorus of folks who believe Albert Pujols' team -- the team of Jered Weaver and Dan Haren and C.J. Wilson and Ervin Santana -- is the best in baseball.

"Because they have everything," he said. "Starting pitching. Power. Speed. The best outfield defense. Eventually, they'll get [prospect Mike] Trout up here, and they'll get better. There's room to grow."

A few hours later, Pujols wore a huge smile after his first win with the Angels, sharing handshakes and high-fives with new teammates; there should be a lot of success here this summer.

Whether Mark Trumbo can make a successful shift to third base remains an open question; he made two errors Friday, seemingly squeezing the ball a little too tightly and throwing the ball away for the first error, and then overrunning a foul popup for the second. Meanwhile, Jordan Walden continues to try to establish himself as a viable closer. The key, the Angels believe, is for him to throw strikes with his breaking ball; when that happens, he is dominant.

The Angels will have to settle the Bobby Abreu situation soon, and presumably, that will be when they see that Kendrys Morales can be counted on. For now, Abreu is a left-handed hitting safety net, and while he has been outspoken in his desire to play more, his dissatisfaction won't become a cancer; he's viewed by others as a positive, supportive teammate.

The Angels' players seem to possess the same confidence that oozes off the St. Louis Cardinals this spring: They know they're talented and they are throwing themselves into their work to ensure their success. Torii Hunter had met Pujols before this year, of course, but Hunter said that what surprises him the most, in being around the slugger daily, is how hard Pujols works.

Notables

• Greg Holland allowed just two of 33 inherited runners to score in 2011. And on Friday night, he allowed three inherited runners to score in a decisive eighth inning. The season has started, and there are no silver linings now, writes Sam Mellinger.

• MLB officials keep waiting to see the fine print on the Dodgers' sale, and privately, some team executives worry that the specifics will be an issue.

Some paperwork on the sale of the Dodgers was filed on Friday, as Bill Shaikin writes, and it showed that Frank McCourt is going to make a whole lot of money -- but there were few details about the financing of the deal. Readers of the L.A. Times were not happy that Magic Johnson was hanging out with Frank McCourt. The change in leadership could come by the end of the month, writes Richard Sandomir.

• The Royals are as loose and self-deprecating a bunch as you will find in the majors. Soft-tossing lefty Bruce Chen wears a T-shirt that has a Royals crown on the front, with the word "DominaChen." On the back, it reads, "83 By You." As in, 83 mph.

• A tension remains in the Red Sox clubhouse, and while much has been made of Bobby Valentine's arrival this spring, I think a lot of the problems stem back to last season's collapse and unresolved issues between some teammates. The division is too difficult for the Red Sox to succeed unless they're all pulling in the same direction. Boston's problems need immediate fixing, because the team's first 15 games are against the Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. A bad start -- following last September's collapse -- will set off an angry-fan frenzy.

• Some rival hitters -- who shall go unnamed -- texted each other after Justin Masterson's first start and agreed completely on this point: Masterson has climbed into a higher echelon of pitchers. "He's figured it out," said one of them. "Just nasty."

• The Marlins remain confident that they'll bust out. Miami had seven hits and nine total bases in the first two games, but even if the Marlins aren't a dynamic offensive team -- and their home park won't help -- they really won't be at a major disadvantage in their own division. Last year, NL East teams ranked 12th, 13th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th among 30 teams in runs scored, with the injury-plagued Mets leading the division. Since the Phillies' Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are out with injuries, and in light of the various issues with other teams, it looks to be a division of strong pitching and run-starved offenses.

• I was lucky enough to see six teams in three days, and of all the stuff we saw, what jumped out the most was how good the Cardinals look. They killed the Brewers on Friday, as Derrick Goold writes.